Police seek author of Daley threat

GRAND BEACH, Mich. — When Richard J. Daley bought a vacation home in 1964 in Grand Beach, Mich., the seven-room, $41,000 house was supposed to allow the family to escape their responsibilities and celebrity in Chicago.

But the refuge was front-page news then and more than once since, most recently for the April 24 suspected arson fire that swept within a few car-lengths of the cottage owned by Mayor Richard M. Daley, then surged through dry dune grass toward the properties of two neighbors, gutting one home and destroying the garage of another.

"This is a place where Mayor Daley, Mrs. Daley and their family go to get away from stress," said Jacquelyn Heard, the mayor's spokeswoman. "At the very least, it's unsettling."

On Friday, investigators including the FBI were looking to see if there was a connection between the fire and a series of letters in recent weeks threatening Daley, possibly because Chicago police shot a cougar on the North Side on April 14.

"These letters appear to be written by the same group or individual and threaten physical harm to specific individuals and entities in connection to the recent shooting of a wild cougar in Chicago last month," the statement said.

The Daleys' neighbors -- fellow Chicagoans with their own valuable vacation homes among the Michigan dunes -- said the fire compromised the enclave's serenity.

"It's a retreat. It's a very, very quiet little village," said Bradley Griffith, vice chairman of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, whose vacation home was destroyed in the April fire. "I hope they catch the guy. It's creepy."

Over the summer and on weekends, the population in Grand Beach swells from 150 to 2,000 while the feel of the town, like neighboring Long Beach, Ind., and New Buffalo, Mich., goes from middle class to upper class, especially around the vacation homes on the shore of Lake Michigan.

Bought for seclusion, the Daleys' homes in Grand Beach (the number grew over the years as family members bought their own, all close to one another) have drawn attention nonetheless.

They were the scene of a 1977 beachfront burglary, the destination in 1985 when the current mayor and his son survived a crash with a truck on ice-slicked roads, and the location in 1992 of an unsupervised beer party hosted by the mayor's then-teenage son Patrick that devolved into a fight. One teen was hit in the head with a baseball bat, seriously injuring him.

The fire was declared an arson Tuesday by state fire investigator Sgt. Greg Stormzand. Because of a threatening letter received by the mayor's office ahead of the fire, authorities launched an arson investigation shortly after the fire was extinguished, said Berrien County Sheriff Paul Bailey.

"The letter came in, and the fire started. That's why we're paying so much attention to it," Bailey said.

As of Friday, the investigation included members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, a regional task force that includes the FBI and Chicago police, said police Supt. Jody Weis. A source close to the investigation said because the threat came after the cougar was shot, profiles for the arsonist included someone motivated by eco-terrorism.

"We've taken every measure we can to make sure the mayor and his family remain safe," Weis said.

Even before the fire broke out, Chicago police had made contact with police in Grand Beach about the threatening letter, Bailey said, though it wasn't clear then how significant the threat might be.

Bailey said Grand Beach police told him they had been given a "heads up" by Chicago police who said "we don't think there's anything to it, don't make a big deal about it, but just keep an extra eye up in that area."

Then came the fire.

There were no persons of interest in the investigation, Bailey said, and he asked anyone with information to call his office at 269-983-7141.

The Daleys came to Grand Beach as Richard J. Daley rose in political prominence in Chicago. After years of renting, he bought a 1930s cottage in 1964 that came with 16 lots and 600 feet of beach frontage.

Best of all, then-village manager John Rohde told the Tribune at the time, Grand Beach residents "let him alone."

Richard M. Daley and his wife, Maggie, bought their home a few blocks away in 1983. Also on top of a bluff, the split-level cottage is at the end of a cul-de-sac on a grassy hill covered in dune grasses.

The home was last a center of controversy after the 1992 brawl, and authorities believe it was the home's tenuous connection to an errant cougar that led to the current incident.

On April 14, a cougar was shot to death in a North Side alleyway as startled neighbors huddled with their children indoors. Daley defended the actions of Chicago police.

In the days after the shooting, sources with knowledge of the investigation said, Daley received a "vicious" letter threatening reprisal.

At noon on April 24, neighbors in Grand Beach called police to report smoke rising on the bluff above High Point Lane. Authorities said the fire apparently had been set about 40 feet and downhill from the corner of the Daley's home.

By the time volunteer firefighters from Grand Beach and six nearby departments arrived, the neighboring house was aflame, officials said. It took hours to put it out, Griffith said, erasing years of work, collecting and dreams.